Death's Emissary
by Sturb
Summary: Naruto Uzumaki, a former CIA agent, fights to survive against a zombie apocalypse and protect people he considers family. Can he bring Umbrella down to its knees and fix the destruction it caused? (OOC Naruto) Being Rewritten.
1. A Story Being Told

**AN:I edited the first chapter, I know that it's not very good anyway, but it's also my first story.  
I would like to know your opinion and I am open to suggestions so please ...  
Review. **

Chapter 1

 _Usually, I_ _'_ _m not very good at telling stories, never been good at listening to them either._

 _But the story I'm about to tell you has to be told._

 _My father used to tell me about a world, a world where everyone would be happy. There would be no diseases, no hunger, no nothing, just happiness._

 _Found out pretty soon that that was a fucking lie._

 _My father used to work for a_ _pharmaceutical company, he was a scientist there, a damn good one. My mother had died during childbirth, so the only person I had was my father. He was my hero, my best friend, my rock._

 _Life was good until that day, the day my whole life changed._

 _We had just finished dinner and, as usual, we were going to play cards before I had to go to bed. But before my father could shuffle the cards and make faces that were only to make me laugh, the doorbell rang._

 _My father opened the door and, from behind his legs, I peered out to see who it was. There were four men at the door, all dressed up in business suits, and I recognized them as being my father's colleagues. Apparently, there had been an accident in my father's lab._

 _I remember my father had turned to me, looked me in the eyes and sighed. He nodded and went to get his coat. When he came back he knelt before me and told me he would come back quickly. It was the last time I saw him._

 _The next day one of the men who had come for my father took me to an orphanage, and the only thing he told me was that my father would never come back._

 _I was devastated and lost._

 _I wasn't adopted for a while, no one wanted to deal with a broken child, but when I seven, an American woman came to the orphanage and adopted two children. I was one of them, the other was a girl, a little older than me._

 _At the time I did not know that the woman, named Lucy Mathews, was an agent for the CIA, and we, the girl and I, were the newest recruits. I do not know why we were chosen, but I know that the recruiting of children by intelligence agencies was done so that the child would be trained from an early age._

 _And that's what happened, for the next ten years the girl and I were trained side by side, bleeding and struggling to be the best. When I was 17 years old, she and I were separated and we never saw each other again._

 _At the age of 18, my training was over and it was time for my first mission, the mission I had been preparing for since I joined the CIA. It's a long story, so the only thing I'm going to say is that I avenged my father and killed him for the first time. Maybe one day I'll tell you that story ... but not today._

 _I quickly became known in the agency for the various missions I then took afterward and when my superiors heard not so very good rumors about Umbrella, they realized that they needed someone inside and I was the one chosen for the job._

 _They wanted me to infiltrate Umbrella, one of the largest and most powerful commercial entities in the world, and find as much about the company as I could._

 _I infiltrated Umbrella as_ _a_ _Biohazard Countermeasure Service_ _operative_ _and I did the job for a year until my CIA superiors told me that I had two choices. The first one, I aborted the mission and came back or the second, I became a freelance and continued my investigations. Apparently, if I were discovered the agency would not want anything to connect us so as not to compromise the missions that were being made by other agents._

 _I made my decision quickly, and for the next year I continued my mission and worked with_ _Nicholai Ginovaef_ _and_ _Yuri Loginova_ _, two men_ _that became my partners on assignments for Umbrella_ _._

 _For a while, it seemed like I was going to be able to find something useful about Umbrella to bring to my superiors._

 _But that never happened..._

 _My name is Naruto Uzumaki and this is my story._

The helicopter propellers were the only thing he could hear and the wind on his face woke him up from his unsettled slumber. He leaned forward, his elbows resting on his knees and sighed as he placed his head on his hands.

The fucking nightmares again. Something that never left him, despite so many years. Many were from the night he saw his father for the last time but others were from what he saw and dealt with during his time at the CIA.

He let the rhythmic sound of the propellers surround him, focus him as he rested on his seat of the chopper that was returning from a mission that he and his two partners had just completed.

It was nighttime in Raccoon City, the only lights he could see were the ones that shone from the city beneath them.

" _Chopper Delta, new orders. Proceed directly to Ravens Gate Bridge. Reinforcements urgently needed_." He heard through the headset's radio.

" _Copy that base. On our way_." the pilot of the chopper responded.

He felt the chopper tilt and set a new route. He lifted his head and straightened his back.

It seems the night was just beginning.

He withdrew his two black Desert Eagles from their shoulder holsters and checked the ammo in the 8 round magazine. Flipping the safeties off and on he placed them back in the holsters. Reaching down he raised the G36-K he had placed between his legs when he had when he had stepped into the helicopter, it had a magazine with 44 rounds with a compact holographic sight.

Naruto tried to adjust himself in the uncomfortable seat, his clothes not making it easy.

He was wearing the custom uniform of Umbrella Biohazard Countermeasure Service. He had a black shirt with the sleeves rolled up with double shoulder holsters for his two handguns, elbow pads and black combat pants with a gray camouflage-type pattern. He had a black padded bulletproof vest that had the UBCS logo on the back with the name Naruto Namikaze on top of the logo. He has heavy duty black laced boots, black knee pads, wears black fingerless gloves and had a watch on his right wrist. Around his neck and over the shirt was a silver cross, which had been given to him by Lucy when he had finished his training, resting on the bulletproof vest.

His blond hair had a buzz cut and he had a short beard. His eyes were blue and he had a well-shaped face with a defined jaw. Along his right forearm, he had the kanji 神のしもべ (God's Servant) tattooed and on his left one, 死の使者 (Death's Emissary) . He had made the tattoos when he returned to Japan because of a mission a few years ago.

Suddenly, a female scream that the noise of the helicopter could not drown out startled him. He looked down at the roof of the building they were flying over and saw a woman running desperately, trying to escape a group of infected people who were stumbling and groaning trying to reach her.

"Civilian in trouble!" He shouted to the pilot as he leaned over the side of the chopper. "Three o'clock, go down! Take us down!"

"We can't, we have our orders!" the pilot turned to the blond as he gritted his teeth at the refusal of the pilot and could hear the hopeless cries of the woman as the undead grew closer to her.

"They're gonna kill her! Take us the fuck down now!" He glared at the pilot making his blue eyes flash dangerously.

The pilot turned his head back. "She is a civilian. It doesn't matter. We have our orders!" he stated decisively.

"Fuck orders!" he spat angrily at the pilot and turned to his partner. "Nicholai tie me off." He got up, placed his feet on the chopper's landing gear and prepared to jump.

He could feel the adrenaline starting to pump inside his veins and he smirked. The familiar rush of excitement ran through him as he looked down.

When he saw an opening he jumped with a rope attached to his belt and, as he fell he, drew his two handguns from their holsters. Flipping the safeties off and pulling the hammer back he started shooting each one of the things going after the crying woman.

BANG! One

BANG! Two

BANG! Three

One by one, they started to fall on the ground dead. They always did, Naruto mused in a split second of contemplation from a shot to the next.

As he continues firing, he hears Nicholai shout "Now!" and his descent was abruptly interrupted. And right on time too, he was a few inches from slamming face first on the rooftop. His two handguns were empty, with the slide drawn back and held in place by the slide catch.

Placing his feet firmly on the ground, he stood, took the rope from his waist and walked up to the last infected, whose attention he had captured and that was now stumbling to him with its mouth wide open to take a bite. It wasn't a pretty sight, even dressed in a business suit it did not hide its pale skin, almost gray, and bloodshot eyes.

He looked up and could not help but sigh in relief, if Nicholai had not stopped him from hitting the roof in time he would have died.

When he was close enough, Naruto tensed his body and, with skill that showed years of training, kicked it in the forehead, breaking its neck and making it drop on the floor dead.

He continued walking to the woman as he released the slide by depressing the slide catch and placed the empty guns back in their holsters. As he got closer he raised his hands on a peaceful gesture trying to calm the fearful woman.

"Hey, hey are you ok?" He asked the woman as she backed away to the edge of the roof. "Hey now, step away from the edge and come over to me." he tried while extending his hand to her. He smiled reassuringly at her, his blue eyes shining invitingly. "Everything's gonna be fine..."

"No, it won't!" the woman, Marla Mapes, who was a telemarketer at the office building, shouted with tears running down her face. She looked down at the bottom of the building then turned back to the blond. "I've seen what happens when you're bitten."

Naruto looked at her arm, it was bleeding from a bite wound from one of the infected. It didn't look good.

"We can help you." he tried getting a little closer so if she tried to jump, maybe he could catch her before that.

The woman shook her head sadly, face covered in tears. "There's no going back!" and, turning around, jumped.

"No!" the young Umbrella operative ran to the edge and saw the dead woman below on the street dead. "Fucking hell." he cursed as his partners approached and looked down as well.

"Hey!" Yuri called him, making the blue eye man turn from the gruesome scene. "We are being called to assist the STARS. Come on!"

Giving one last look at the dead woman below he frowned and made his way to the chopper. As he got in the pilot turned around to face him with a mocking smirk on face.

"Turn around and take us where we're needed before I rip that grin off your face." the blue-eyed man snarled making the pilot pale and turn around to do just that. Drawing one of his guns from its holster he removed the empty magazine and gave it to Yuri, who started filling it back up, and reached into one of the many pockets of his pants and pulled out a full one. Inserting the full magazine and holstering the gun he repeated the same action with his other handgun. Then he took the now full magazines from Yuri and pocketed them.

Looking down to the city below Naruto couldn't avoid thinking ' _Fucking Umbrella_.' and leaned back, now with his rifle to his chest, ready for what came next.

Or so he thought...

Chapter 2

Half an hour later, they dropped in an alleyway close to where the S.T.A.R.S and police officers that were doing everything they could to keep the infected back. Men were all over the place as were vehicles.

When his feet hit the ground he immediately lifted his rifle and fired at an incoming infected, hitting it on the head. Letting the rifle drop off to the side, being supported by the carrying sling around Naruto's neck, he drew his left handgun with his right hand and fired to cover Yuri and Nicholai as they exited the chopper.

When he felt the tapping of Nicholai's hand on his shoulder he holstered the Desert Eagle and raised his rifle again. As they walked down the alley, the three men were killing undead to make way for the others. The sound of the empty bullet casings falling on the ground and the noise of the weapons firing were music to Naruto's ears.

When they finally reached the S.T.A.R.S and police officers they spread out. Naruto, behind a police car, emptied his weapon into the dozens of infected who were staggering to them from the north of the street.

Hearing the click of the gun, he dropped it on his chest and pulled it out of a grenade. Pull the pin with his thumb he threw it to the horde of undead.

"GRANADE!" he warned as it landed and exploded in a shower of blood and limbs, also making one civilian vehicle explode. Taking cover behind the car, he grabbed his G36-K again and flicked the gun to the side, making the empty magazine fly away and putting a new one in place. Raising again he looked down the sight and flipping safety/fire selector switch to the single fire option to spare ammo, he continued killing them.

A few feet away, Yuri was firing at some undead that were coming up the alley next to Naruto. Nicholai was shooting south, preventing the infected from coming any closer. But even so, with the help of the three partners, keeping so many infected back was complicated.

Seeing that Yuri was starting to have problems with the alley, Naruto switched the rifle to burst fire and helped the man.

CLICK

CLICK

CLICK

"Fuck." Naruto muttered at his empty rifle and pushed the cocking lever back seeing no ammo left in the magazine.

Coincidentally, Yuri ran out of bullets as well and leaned against a building' steel door on his left. While taking the magazine off the door behind him was ripped off its hinges by one of the undead, making Yuri fall with the door and the undead on top of him. It reached down and took the man's arm clumsily into its hand and bit down, hard, making Yuri yell in pain catching Naruto's attention.

Reacting quickly, he drew his handgun and shoot the undead right between the eyes. "Yuri, you ok?" He made his way to the man reloading his rifle, while said man pushed the door off of himself and pulled the pin out of a grenade .

"Bite this!" he snarled and threw it into the alley, it fell near the incoming infected. Naruto rushed to him and, grabbing the broken steel door, used it to cover the both of them from the explosion. Rocks flew everywhere as the explosion killed the last undead coming through the alley. When it was over, Naruto pulled Yuri up by his vest with an impressive show of strength.

"You good?"

"Yeah, yeah."

Seeing moment from the corner of his eye, fast as lightning, Naruto drew his handgun and placed beneath the chin of an approaching undead.

BANG!

Dead brain matter came out from the top of the head of the infected man.

They approached Nicholai, who didn't stop firing for even a second, and raised their rifles. As they kept shooting, Naruto looked around to the brave men and woman around them and saw that they were being overrun by the horde. There was no end to them and for each one they killed, five more took its place.

"Pull back!" He yelled to his partners. "Pull back!" they entered the alley were Yuri had been bitten and made their way through it while gunning down infected. Back where the officers were, the infected had overran them and now were eating the poor bastards alive. "This way!"

Walking through the labyrinth the alleys they managed to escape from the dead and mislead them. But they weren't out of trouble yet. He reached over to Nicholai's belt and took the radio hanging from it.

"This is Namikaze, we've been overrun. Requesting immediate chopper evac." he stated, holding down the transmitter and static was the only thing he heard leaving the device. "Is anybody in there?" he insisted. "Fucking hell!" he cursed and threw the radio back to his partner. "Come on!" he ordered.

They hurried through the various alleys, seeking shelter from the dead. But there was something wrong with Yuri, he was starting to fall behind and was pale, sweaty, and began to stagger in his steps, unable to follow his partners.

Since Naruto was in the back of the group, he was the first to notice it. With a quick moment he was able to catch him before he fell on the ground.

"Yuri! What's wrong?" the blond asked, seeing his friend gasping and panting with the mere effort of just standing straight.

Nicholai whipped around with his weapon prepared to eliminate any threat that might have passed without him noticing when he saw Yuri's condition.

"What happened?" he asked hastily, walking up to them and putting his partner's arm around his neck, helping Naruto withstand the weight of the sick man. Naruto checked him over, not seeing any physical injuries until he remembered. Grabbing the sick man's arm he ripped the sleeve off, revealing the swollen and torn flesh were the infected had bit the poor man.

"The bite must have infected him." remembering what happened to the woman on the roof, he cursed his luck. It was not enough to be surrounded by infected people who wanted to kill and eat them, but now one of his partners was infected as well. What a beautiful fucking day, huh?

Gritting his teeth angrily, he and Nicholai carried the Yuri across a deserted street and gently leaned him against a wall and waited for him to catch his breath.

Suddenly, the very familiar sound of helicopter propellers was heard. Naruto and Nicholai looked up in anticipation and there was what they had been waiting for. It was a chopper!

Nicholai took out a flare from his pouch and, lighting it up, began waving it around.

"Here! We're down here!" he tried yelling but it didn't stop.

Narrowing his eyes, Naruto noticed that the helicopter was carrying two boxes hanging by ropes on the underside of the helicopter.

"Where are they going?" asked Nicholai watching the helicopter pass by them as if they were not even there. Seeing that the chopper was making hovering over a Hospital Naruto quickly made his way to Yuri, who was leaning heavily against the wall.

"They are landing over there, let's get Yuri, come on!" reaching over they took hold of Yuri's arms and, each one taking one of his arms over their shoulders, they made their way to the hospital. "Come on man, we're getting out of here."

They went towards the building with a hurried pace and, luckily for them, they didn't find any more of them infected on their way there. Reaching the door they were about to open it when a flash of light made them turn around.

The fucking helicopter was leaving!

Freeing himself from Yuri's arm, Nicholai ran to the middle of the street waving his arms around.

"No! You motherfuckers! Don't leave!" Nicholai shouted furious, seeing their only way out of the damn city getting further and further away.

"They dropped something inside, did you see it?" Naruto pointed out, not seeing the boxes he had spotted minutes ago at the entrance of the alley.

"Maybe a radio the works." he stated, walking back to them.

"Take Yuri." He passed the sick man to Nicholai. Letting his rifle hang from his neck, he drew both of his handguns and made his way inside the, hopefully, deserted building.

Sneaking up and down the corridors, with Naruto leading the way, they passed through rooms with glass windows that allowed them to see the interior. In one of the rooms they passed, there was an operating table that was covered with weird looking tubes.

"What the fuck are they doing in this place?" the blue-eyed man muttered as he continued leading his friends. Behind him, Nicholai was almost dragging Yuri, seeing that the man looked like he was going to pass out at any moment. When they reached a large open space area, they saw the boxes that the helicopter had been carrying when it passed them.

One of them was open, and that could only mean one thing.

' _We are not alone here..._ ' Naruto thought.

"Nicholai." Yuri gasped, pale and sweaty. "Put me down." he almost implored, exhausted from walking in the state he was in.

"Ok, rest here." Nicholai nodded, laying the sick man on the ground and approached Naruto, who was checking their surroundings. Not seeing anyone or anything around them he approached the tow metal boxes, peered inside the one that was open and found it empty proving that his theory was correct. Walking to the other one he lifted the already open lid and found nothing in it.

"What's this?" Nicholai asked.

"Looks like weapon cases."

"We don't need weapons. We need evacuation!" He yelled furious, as he kicked the box.

"These weren't meant for us..." he replied to the raging man as he looked around again.

Then, without warning, a blinding pain burst from his arm.

"Fuck!" Naruto yelled in pain and looked down. An infected Yuri was biting down viciously on his arm and it fucking hurt!

Reacting instinctively, Naruto punched the now infected man in the face and managed to get him to let go. Backing away quickly, he drew one of his handguns and, before Yuri could attack again, Naruto and Nicholai filled him with bullets.

"Shit Yuri..." Nicholai whispered, lowering his rifle as Naruto looked down at the bite wound that the now dead infected had left him with.

"We need to move and find someplace where I can patch myself up." the blond told his partner as he place his gun back in the shoulder holster and raised his rifle as well.

The other man nodded and they both left their former partner dead, in the middle of the Umbrella Hospital. They found no more infected on their way out of the hospital, but found a few on the streets. Maintaining the same strategy they had adopted, the two men kept walking stealthily through the alleyways, skirting groups of infected along the way.

When they left one of the alleys they found an abandoned ambulance and Naruto walked up to it. His wound had not stopped bleeding yet, and seeing the bright side, there were no large groups of infected people in sight.

Opening the back of the ambulance, he rested his rifle on the ground of the ambulance and sat down near a few drawers and took some bandages for his wound. However, Nicholai remained vigilant, from time to time seeing an infected one stagger away from them, leaving his colleague to deal with his injury.

"Shit, it won't stop bleeding..." Naruto sighed as he inspected the skin around the bite mark and the swelling that was beginning to show.

"Why didn't they see us?" Nicholai asked, not taking his eyes off the street and keeping his rifle tight against his chest.

"What?" the blonde returned, looking up from the wound.

"The chopper, we were right on the-"

"Oh, Nicholai." Naruto chuckled amused at his friend's naivety as he stood up from his seat so that he could face Nicholai. "They don't give a shit about us." he then started taking his shoulder holsters off.

"What do you mean?" he watched the blue-eyed man confusingly as he took the bulletproof vest off, leaving him with his shirt and unprotected.

"We're assets Nicholai, expendable assets." placing the shoulder holsters back in place and grabbing his rifle from the ground of the ambulance he turned to his friend. "And we've just been expended."

RING RING

The sound of a phone ringing from inside of a destroyed store startled them, making them raise their guns and be ready to fire. Seeing nobody near, Naruto approached the store and saw a phone's screen flashing at the call that it was receiving.

Taking it from the destroyed showcase he pressed the answer button.

"Hello?"he half answered half asked.

"Thank god you answered. My name is Charles Ashford and I have a proposition for you..."

Chapter 3

The man on the other side of the line was Dr. Charles Ashford, a key Umbrella scientist whose daughter, Angela, was still in the city, and wanted them to find his daughter. In return he would arrange for an evacuation, seeing that Umbrella wanted to 'sanitize' Raccoon City by nuking it, making the infection and any evidence of it be destroyed by the massive explosion. After being told where the little girl was Naruto and Nicholai accepted the offer and started making their way to the school where she was hiding.

As they walked, Nicholai asked his partner why he took off his bulletproof vest, since they were still in danger.

"I'm already infected Nicholai." he showed the man his infected wound that could be seen through the rips of the shirt sleeve. "Sooner or later I'll die and honestly, I would rather be killed by a bullet than a bite." then Naruto turned to the still healthy man. "If I show any signs of turning I need you to kill me." he would have done it himself but suicide was a mortal sin so...

The man only nodded frowning, feeling nauseated with the thought of killing his friend.

Naruto was fully aware that within a few hours he might be dead. Remembering Yuri and the woman made shivers go down his spine. He never thought he would die that way, he always imagined it would be in a shootout. Because he was sure as hell that it wouldn't have been from old age...

In his line of work hardly anyone could reach sixty's, much less die of old age.

When they reached the entrance to the school, Naruto began to feel strange. Everything was spinning and he began to feel dizziness. Shivers took his body, feeling the cold sweat running down his face. When they reached the entrance to the school, Naruto began to feel strange. Everything was spinning and he began to feel dizziness. Shivers took his body, feeling the cold sweat running down his face. His lungs burned every time he breathed and he had to cough.

"Hey, you ok?" his partner asked, as the blond leaned against one of the abandoned cars on the school road and began to cough violently. When the coughing fit ended, Naruto straightened and took a deep breath.

"I'm fine, let's get the kid." checking the ammunition of his rifle one last time they both went in the dark building.

Naruto reached into his pant's pocket and took a flashlight out together with one of his handguns. Now, with his rifle secured on his chest by the sling, he had one of his Desert Eagles in his right hand and the flashlight in his left, positioned next to the pistol.

"You go left, I go right?" the only answer from Nicholai was a nod and he went left. Going to the right aisle, the blond wondered if there was anyone else alive in town. Probably not, the infected were cruel creatures, with no sense of pity for their victims. He sighed wistfully, Naruto missed the missions he had at the Agency, they were much simpler and more direct. If you had to kill someone, you would kill them. If you had to gather information, you would gather the information. Nothing that involved freaking zombies.

Hearing the sound of footsteps coming from a classroom ahead, he cocked the hammer of the Desert Eagle in his hand and turned the flashlight off, letting the light coming through the windows from outside light his way. With silent steps, he entered the science classroom, which already had the door open. Inside was a man, not infected, wearing a hat and leather jacket. In the hand of the dark-skinned man was a golden Desert Eagle and he was carefully approaching the door to the closet of the room. Opening the door very quickly he found a plastic skeleton, the ones used to learn the human skeleton.

The man yelped in surprise when the skeleton almost fell on him and then he laughed as he waved his gun in front of the skeleton's skull.

"I see you, mother-ooooohhhh shit!" from behind the skeleton came an infected, wobbling as fast as he could for the man with the hat.

Backing away quickly, the man's back crashed into something solid and a gun was raised over his shoulder.

BANG!

The undead's head jerked back from the shot that hit it right in the forehead. Looking back, he came face to face with a pale and sweaty blond man with a short beard and piercing blue eyes.

"So did you get the call as well?" the blond asked, breathing heavily and holstered his handgun.

"What?" the dark-skinned man asked, frowning confusedly.

"You're here for the kid right?"

"Oh, yeah, yeah. The girl."

"Well, said nothing about making a deal with someone else..." he sighed pursing his lips. "I guess it makes us partners. Names Naruto." he offered his gloved hand which the other man accepted.

"Lloyd Jefferson Wade, but you can call me L.J." they shook hands.

Naruto nodded and gave the man his flashlight, instructing him to light the way so that the blond could use his rifle.

They wandered around the school for another few minutes until the floor they stood trembled and an explosion was heard. Alarmed, Naruto ran as fast as he could, with L.J hot on his heels and, as he was until he reached the door of the school canteen, he smashed it with his shoulder and pointed his gun at the first person he saw. It was a woman, with dirty blond hair and a big ass shotgun aimed at his head. She was wearing a cropped orange tank with spaghetti straps. Over her orange tank she had a tattered olive mesh tank, sleeveless, with a scooped neckline. The mesh tank comes down to the level of a short mini skirt and she had dark gray-black jeans, bootcut and hipster style, the middle part of her left pants leg was missing, from above her leg holsters to below her knee. She also had many different holsters, including a webbed belt with double strapped leg holsters. She also had twin shoulder holsters and a leather strap slung across her chest, probably for her shotgun.

Naruto smirked when the woman realized that while she had him in her sighs, he also had his rifle aimed right at her head.

"Don't shoot! He's cool." L.J barked as he entered the room running with his hands raised as peacefully gesture. "He made a deal with Doctor Doom same as you."

"Uh." Alice lowered her weapon with a small amused smirk. Naruto too lowered his, flicking the safety back on.

Naruto studied the dirty blonde haired woman, then the dark haired woman who was wearing close-fitting blue top that goes to about hip level, a black short skirt with a gray line running around the bottom and black boots. After that he looked at the scared looking little girl and smiled at her, trying to ease her mind and the girl smiled back timidly.

"Name's Naruto Namikaze." he introduced himself to the ladies with a charming smile.

"Alice." the blonde replied, clearly amused by the charm of the man who, a few seconds before, was pointing a gun at her.

"I'm Jill Valentine and this is-" he interrupted the dark-haired beauty.

"Angela." he kneeled down, so that they would be face to face. "Your daddy asked me to find you." then he gestured to the others. "Like them." the little girl smiled brightly at the knowledge that her father had 'sent' so many people to find her. Naruto got up and secured his G36-K to his chest.

"How many of you guys are there?" Jill asked with black hair asked.

"What?" Naruto tilted his head in confusion and the woman looked to the side and he followed her line of sight.

On the floor lay Nicholai, dead, covered in blood and with large pieces of flesh missing, the undead must have gotten him.

"Nicholai, shit..." he muttered and lowered his head, whispering a quick prayer to the Lord in his honor. Behind him, L.J took off his hat and held it to his chest.

Then suddenly a new wave of pain struck him, making him bend forward and cough blood to the already dirty floor. The now familiar burn in his lungs was getting worse and it wouldn't get any better.

"When were you bitten?" Alice asked.

"Three hours ago..." He gasped still hunched over and not looking up.

"What the-" L.J began to protest but was interrupted when Alice raised her shotgun again, this time pointed to the ceiling and approached from the infected man as he straightened his back. When she was close enough, she smiled.

"Well, it's your lucky day..." and walked away with Angie's lunch box under her arm.

' _You can say that again._ ' the man thought as he watched her hips sway as she walked away. Damn, that was a hot woman.

"Should have told me you got bit mother fucker. I'm hanging with you and shit..." Naruto snorted as L.J walked to the rest of the group leaving Naruto to walk towards his dead partner. He kneeled down and closed Nicholai's dead eyes. He sighed, got up and followed the rest of the group out of the school.

When they left Angie's school, walked towards a payphone that was near the school door, waiting for Angela's father to call. Naruto approached a nearby tree and leaned against it. Opening one of the numerous pockets of his pants he took out a cigar and a lighter. Placing the cancer stick between his lips he lit the cigar and breathed in the smoke that messed up even more with his already hurting lungs but damn, he needed that.

Suddenly payphone started ringing and Alice answered it. Hearing the conversation, at least what Alice said, he continued smoking, inspecting the surroundings, watchful. He did not want to be surprised again, especially with a little girl in his care.

After a few minutes, the call was over and the blonde called them.

"We have forty minutes to get to get to City Hall, there will be a chopper waiting for us there and the people that will be there will not be friendly." they all nodded and got in a car with Naruto and Alice on the back seat and Jill, L.J and Angie on the front. Once inside, Naruto rested his rifles at his feet and took the shoulder holsters off, while Alice placed Angie's lunch box on her lap and opened the secret compartment. Reaching in she took a weird looking syringe and a vial filled with a green liquid.

"So, what are you injecting me with?" Naruto asked, looking at the strange green substance, truly curious about what it contained. She turned her head to him.

"The antivirus." his eyebrow raised. Alice adjusted her position, turning so her body was facing him. She placed the vile inside the syringe and took his arm with her soft hands. "The T-Virus reanimated death cells. Basically, bringing the dead back to life. Or in a living human, it can cause uncontrollable mutation." she placed the end of the syringe on his arm and pressed the button on the top making six small needles go into his skin and inject the antivirus. Once inside, the antivirus started to destroy the contaminated cells of the T-Virus. "Or it can help her walking if the virus is kept in check with this." She showed him the now empty syringe.

"The kid's infected?" he asked as looked at the seemingly innocent little girl as she turned from the front seat to look back at them. He smiled reassuringly at her making the little girl smile back.

"Yes," Alice confirmed. "The cellular growth is enough to regenerate her...But not enough to cause further mutation."

"And they infected you with it as well, right?" he asked turning his blue eyes at her. The beauty nodded, never taking her eyes off his.

"Yeah." and then she smiled teasingly to him. "Don't worry, I'm not contagious."

Naruto chuckled, was she flirting with him right now? Oooooh, he liked her already. In the front seat, L.J rubbed his forehead and his hand went down his face, groaning at the situation.

Jill bent down and gave Alice a video camera that had belonged to a woman who was with them before Naruto arrived, unfortunately, she had been killed by some undead children. Naruto had cringed when Jill had told him what had happened, what a shitty way to go...

"Here, tape the story I'll see that it gets put to good use." Alice examined the camera in her hands and turned it on. Turning it she started recording.

"My name is Alice. I worked for the Umbrella Corporation, the largest and most powerful commercial entity in the world. I was head of security at a secret high-tech facility called The Hive..." and she told her story.

Naruto leaned back and closed his eyes, hearing her with great care. As he heard the story he could not help thinking about what he might have found about Umbrella if he had known Alice. Maybe they could have avoided it all. The deaths, the infected, etc.

When Alice finished talking to the camera, Naruto opened his eyes and studied her. It was like a heavy weight was lifted from her shoulders.

He reached for her hand and squeezed it showing support. She looked at him and smiled, interlacing their fingers.

"And what about your story?" She asked the younger man in a hushed voice.

"My story?" He looked up at the car ceiling and took a deep breath. He knew hers, so it would only be fair for her to know his, even if it was classified. What the hell, they were surrounded by fucking undead so why the hell not? "Well, for starters, I'm not an Umbrella agent. In fact, I am, sorry was, an agent of CIA." Alice and the others looked at him, shocked by the revelation. Naruto chuckled st their reactions. "Yes, yes, I know what you are thinking and the answer is yes, the agency was already investigating the corporation, even before I had infiltrated Umbrella. " Jill frowned from the driver's seat and, looking through the reviewer mirror and asked.

"What was your mission?" he straightened on his seat and started putting the shoulder holsters back.

"Find as much dirt on Umbrella as possible, but I've only been at this for two years so I couldn't find much." then he pursed his lips. "The agency had to cut ties with me because of the danger of being caught and they couldn't have anything that could connect me with them so...that only made my job harder." with the holsters in place he grabbed his rifle and checked the ammo. "But now there's nothing that I can do to stop them seeing that the agency won't admit that I worked for them." then he turned to Alice and wiggled his eyebrows teasingly. "Seems like I'm stuck with you sweetheart..."

Alice only chuckled at his cheeky flirting.

"Yes, so it seems." and she turned to look out the window.

Then a squeeze from Naruto's hand, that was still holding her own, brought her back to his blue eyes. "I want you to know, that I will follow you in your endeavor to bring Umbrella down. Ask me anything and I'll do everything to help you." Alice smiled at his offer and squeezed his hand back affectionately.

"Thank you." She whispered gratefully, her smile never leaving her face until they arrived.

Their hands never separated during the trip.

Chapter 4

Minutes later they finally reached their destination and dropped the car a mile away from the City Hall, they didn't want to be spotted by the guards.

Getting closer to their objective, Alice looked up at the roof of the city hall and a small smirk appeared on her lips. She turned to the now healthy looking blond as he held Angie's hand, leading the scared little girl through the deserted street near the land site of the chopper. She didn't know why but the little girl had latched on to Naruto very quickly and the blue eyed man didn't seem to mind.

"Hey." she called, getting his attention as well as L.J's and Jill's. "I gonna make a detour, I'll meet you there ok?" she watched as a frown appeared on his face and he stopped walking.

He looked at the woman that had captured his attention since the first time he had seen her one hour earlier. The promise of mischief in her sparking green eyes made him shake his head with a chuckle.

"Just try not to get killed." nodding and still smirking, the woman went into an alleyway on their left. Then he felt a little hand grip the fabric of his shirt and looked at the child.

"Were is she going?" the accented voice asked. Placing his hand on top of her head he smiled down at her.

"She'll be back, you'll see."

When they were closer, Naruto pulled out some binoculars and surveyed the surroundings from the corner of a building so that he wouldn't be spotted. He could see the chopper and the guards. There weren't many, for what he could see, but still they had to be careful. Looking around to see the best way to approach without being seen, an idea began to form in his head. Looking back, he looked at the others and waved.

"Come on." and they followed the ex-agent. They walked around the building so that they could approach the inclined access that would lead them to the helipad from behind, out of sight of the guards that were guarding it. Walking closer, Naruto saw two guards at the beginning of the access and very quietly he took the sling of his rifle from around his neck and cave it to Jill. Jumping over the small stone wall he stealthily approached the unprepared guards.

When he reached the first, he broke his neck with a quick motion and the other, now alerted by the sound of the neck of his comrade breaking and the body hitting the ground, did not have time to react as Naruto kicked his once in the chest to stun him then in the head, knocking him out. The other went around and Jill gave him back his rifle. As they passed the unconscious guard L.J started kicking him until Jill harshly shoved him forward.

Angie followed behind Naruto, keeping hidden behind his form as the blue-eyed man had told her to do. As they walked up to the helipad they heard sounds of fighting and they picked up their pace.

They managed to arrive just in time to see Alice subduing the rest of the guards with a steel baton in each hand. Breaking the visor of the helmet of the last guard she discarded the batons and turned to the group as they made their way to her. If she had looked back, she would have seen one of the guards, that had been pretending to be passed out, raised from the ground and was about to shoot her.

Quick as lightning, Naruto drew his handgun and fired. The bullet leaving the barrel of the gun and making it's away through the guard's neck, killing him.

"You missed one sweetheart." he smirked at the woman as she looked at him surprised. Alice only chuckled and gave him a wink.

"That's what your here for." after being rewarded with a snort they made their away inside the chopper. As they went inside, Naruto ran his eyes through the surroundings and, not seeing anything he was approaching the chopper's ramp.

"We've to hurry." Alice whispered from inside the chopper with a panicked voice.

"We're fine, we've time-" Naruto tried to reassure her but she cut him off.

"No! We've to hurry." she rushed to the cockpit with Angie behind her.

Naruto looked around the open space of the helipad and out of the fog near the gate came a monster, unlike anything he had ever seen, even the undead couldn't be compared to it.

It was enormous, its entire body was extremely disfigured and unrecognizable from anything he had ever seen. Its skin was brown and was covered with a protective coat that resembled leather, the right side of its face was stapled shut with only his left eye visible. Its teeth were visible and it had no lips. It was carrying a mini-gun and a rocket launcher.

"What the fuck is that?" Naruto whispered petrified and he was to warn them, the cold barrel of a gun was pressed against the back of his head. He slowly raised his hands.

"Holly shit were stealing his ride!" L.J yelled frightened not seeing the other armed men coming behind him.

After they were handcuffed with zip cuffs the soldiers lined Naruto, Jill ans L.J up next to a man that had been siting on a wheelchair, but the guards had placed him on the ground, and forced them to their knees. Well, not Naruto, he wouldn't kneel for those sons of bitches.

"Kneel." One of the soldiers ordered him wen he refused to do so.

"Funny, that's what I said to your mama the other da-UGH!" the enraged guard struck him on the face with the end of his rifle. Grunting, Naruto spat blood to the ground and still didn't kneel, instead he headbutted the man with a quick movement, breaking the visor of the helmet and knocking him out making Naruto let out a mocking laugh.

Alive got out of the chopper at gunpoint by Major Timothy Cain in time to see another guard kneeing her blonde friend on the stomach bringing the man down to his knees as another dragged the unconscious man away. In front of the humans was the monster, or Nemesis, was the name that Jill had muttered in Naruto's ear when it stopped walking a few feet away and turned to them.

"Angie!" The desperate father called overjoyed to see his daughter coming out of the chopper behind Alice.

"Daddy!" The little girl ran to her father and they hugged. "I knew you wouldn't leave me!"

"No, no never."

"Discard primary weaponry." spotlights flashed around the heliport illuminating the creature and all who were there as the monster put his weapons on the ground, per Cain's orders.

The guards keeping Alice secured released her as Cain walked until they were face to face.

"The two of you showed such promise, but we had to see you in action." he smiled darkly at her as she turned her head. "And most impressive you've been." Alice shook her head in disgust. "You're like brother and sister. Heightened speed, strength, agility, the same killer instincts, parallel strands of research. And now... Now we'll discover which is superior. Fight him."

"No." she refused, an expression of indifference on her face.

"Fight him or they die." Alice looked at her friends and then she saw Naruto shaking his head subtly. He didn't want her to fight it for them.

"What makes you think I care?" She tried to bluff. Cain looked her in the eyes and shrugged. He drew his handgun and shot Dr.Ashford, who was sitting with Angie, making the little girl watch her father die right in front of her as she wailed in sadness.

"Daddy no!" Angie grabbed her dying father's hand as he tried to hold on, but it was useless.

"You motherfu-UGH!" Naruto tried to rise to his feet and charge at Cain but was struck again across the face by the same guard from before and this time, he was bleeding from the nose, making his blond beard stain red. He raised his head to the guard. "When this is over, I'll kill you." he promised the guard, glaring at him with such hatred that made the soldier flinch slightly.

The Major turned back to Alice, who had her mouth open in shock and tears threatening to leave her eyes.

"He was a valuable asset to the corporation. I don't even care about these people." Angie looked at Alice with tears on her face and the woman flinched. "Begin." Cain ordered again and this time Alice nodded.

The fight was hard for Alice, she didn't want to fight but she had to keep the others alive and this was the only way. (AN:fight from the movie.) Naruto and the rest of the group couldn't do anything but watch the fight.

After a series of kicks and punches, dodges and parries Alice finally managed to impale Nemesis on a very sharp broken metal beam by kicking the monster until it was stabbed in the chest. As she hit him, to impale it further, she experiences a series of flashbacks that reveal that the Nemesis was actually Matt Addison, who had survived the whole Hive ordeal and had been subjected to Umbrella's experiments alongside her.

"I'm sorry." she cried, tears going down her face and her whole body shaking, as she looked at the bloody beam coming out of Nemesis chest. "Oh Matt, I'm so sorry." she looked back at it and she saw Matt's green eye.

"Finish him." Cain demands. When Alice didn't react he repeated. "I said, finish him." he shook her head as she turned around to face him.

"No." She muttered still looking at the thing Matt had become. She shook her head as she turned around to face him. "No." this time more loudly and Cain rolled his eyes, as if he was dealing with children.

"Don't you know how important you are to me? That creature is one thing but you...somehow you bonded with the T-Virus on a cellular level." while he was talking Naruto managed to retrieve a small pocket knife he had inside of a secret pocket he had on his pants and was cutting through the zip cuffs. He managed to suppress a snort. Suckers, all they did was take his guns away and never thought of searching the rest of him. Amateurs. "You adapted it, changed it. You became...magnificent." the man continued.

"I became a freak!" she shakily replied, angered.

"No." Cain shook his head. "You're not mutation, you're evolution. With my help, just imagine what we can achieve!"

"What about him?" she mentioned Nemesis behind her, who was still impaled by the beam.

"Evolution has its...dead ends." He smirked. Hearing that Nemesis's lone eye narrowed, the movement not being noticed by anyone. "Now, finish this. Put it out of its misery...and come with me."

"Fuck you." Alice's stone cold face didn't even twitch as she said those words.

Cain sighed. "You're such a disappointment to me. All that strength but no will to use it...what a waste."

As he walked away Nemesis started to free itself, roaring and grunting as the broken beam slid out with a wet sound. He walked to it's previous position before fighting Alice and picked the mini-gun from the ground where it had dropped it.

"Sanitation of Racoon City to commence on my mark." Cain spoke through the earpiece to whoever was on the other side of the radio line." Naruto tried with more vigor now, moving the blade of the knife as fast as he could, trying to cut the zip cuff. He had to free himself and help Alice! "Kill her." Major ordered Nemesis.

The monster turned to the unarmed woman that was between two guards and the mini-gun started to spin.

"No!" Naruto yelled as he managed to finally free himself and kicked the guard's legs from under him and broke his neck, that had been the one that had struck two times. Grabbing his two Desert Eagles, that the guard had taken from him and placed them on his belt, he was about to shoot Nemesis but it wasn't necessary because instead of shooting Alice, it shot the guards leaving the woman unharmed.

"What are you doing?" yelled Cain in a panicked confusion.

Seeing Alice rush to pick up a gun from the dead guard, Naruto concentrated in killing the ones closer to them. Pressing the triggers in his handguns repeatedly, he made his way to Jill and L.J to free them. Once free, Jill took a gun and the dark-skinned man ran inside the chopper. Looking back momentarily, Naruto makes sure Angie was safe and protected by his body. Jill was crouched beside the girl, watching for any guards who came too close.

Cain had taken refuge on the ramp of the chopper and was barking orders through his earpiece. "Priority overload. Initiate launch proceedings." with that said he headed to the cockpit of the chopper. "Why haven't we taken off?"

And out of the pilot chair came L.J's smirking face. "Because I used to drive a Cadillac." And punched Cain in the face knocking him out.

Outside the chopper Naruto, Alice and the other continued emptying their clips on the charging Umbrella soldiers. Naruto had recovered his G36-K and the additional ammo from another guard and was kneeling with his back to Jill and Angie, bringing down any Umbrella agent he saw and covering Alice and Nemesis when needed.

At some point, Nemesis's mini-gun had run out of ammo, so he had resorted to using his fists, easily tearing through the soldiers coming for them, the bullets that were fired at it doing nothing to make it stop. Jill was hugging Angie, and had moved the little girl's head to the side, she didn't have to see so much death. What she saw already was enough.

" _Surrender or we open fire_." An incoming chopper warned Alice as she entered one of the buildings after killing some Umbrella agents. It started firing and she ran as fast through a corridor full of windows that were all breaking as she passed them. She managed to dodge all the bullets successfully but when she dived through the glass door at the end of the corridor, she was face to face with three Umbrella operatives, all of them holding her at gunpoint, making her raise her hands.

"Dro-"

BANG!

BANG!

BANG!

Three well-aimed shots from Naruto's rifle killed the operatives and allowed Alice to continue running. She briefly looked at his blue eyes and he winked at her, flicking his rifle to the side making the empty magazine fly away and loading a new one.

"Alice!" she heard Angie yell and looked at the direction the girl was pointing, the choppers were coming back. She ran as fast as she could to them but was stopped by the spotlight that was pointed at her from one of the choppers.

"Drop your weapon and surrender!" she aimed her Beretta 92FS at the cockpit and emptied the clip, unfortunately failing to kill the pilot. She was sure that she was going to die, but suddenly Nemesis stepped in front of her with its rocket launcher ready to fire.

Nemesis roared and shoot a rocket to the same chopper that Alice had been shooting, blowing it up. Coincidentally, the wreckage of the first helicopter destroys the second and the fireball that originates falls toward Alice and Nemesis.

Nemesis ends up being crushed by the wreckage of one of the choppers. The explosion takes Alice to the ground and, as she raises her head, she's rendered unconscious by flying shrapnel that hit her on the head.

Killing the last agents of Umbrella, Naruto and Angie run to Alice, who was still on the floor. She was dizzy and her body did not stop shaking, her vision blurred.

"Matt..." she muttered, seeing Nemesis hand beneath the wreckage of the two helicopters.

"Alice, hey." Naruto takes her head in his hands and turned her head so she was facing him. Her vision is still blurry, but she could still make out the outline of the blond's head. "Come on sweetheart, we have to go." He picked her up bridal style and carried her to the chopper with Angie following after them.

When they entered the chopper Jill was holding Cain by the front of his shirt with one hand and the other was holding a gun beneath his chin.

"If you expect me to beg, I'll not." He said through gritted teeth. Naruto placed Alice on her feet and she made her way to the cruel man. Grabbing him she threw him onto the ramp of the chopper as it was rising. Naruto approached Angie and Jill and the little girl hugged his waist, her face buried on his stomach. He placed his hand on the back of her head and held her there, preventing her from seeing what Alice was going to do next. "Wait!" grabbing him she threw him onto the ramp of the chopper as it was rising. "Killing me won't put things right." he pleaded.

"No...but it's a start." she snarled as she threw him off the chopper.

As he landed he broke his shin and yelled in agony, behind him, there was a horde of undead making their way to him. He crawled to the nearest dead soldier and grabbed his gun. He shot down as many undead as he could but realized he hadn't enough bullets for all. Placing the barrel of the gun on his head he pulled the trigger.

CLICK

It was empty.

"No!" He yelled desperately as the undead drew closer and a now revived bit his neck. "Nooooooo...!" Alice saw from the rising chopper and watched as he was eaten alive by the undead. The screams of the dying man were muffled by the noise of chopper propellers and moans and grunts of hundreds of undead.

Naruto held her arm gently and guided her to the seat beside Angie and started helping the little girl putting the seat-belt on.

"Are you going to be alright?" Angie's innocent voice asked over the sound of the engines. Alice smiled and nodded, with her face covered in blood and sweat, and clicked the seat belt on. She looked at Naruto the only one that still was on his feet and they smiled at each other. Naruto mouthed ' _You_ _did well._ ' and she winked at him with a smirk and mouthed _'_ _Thanks_.'

Suddenly there was a flash of light, the nuclear bomb that Umbrella had launched to destroy the infection and all the evidence exploded in the city. Buildings and undead were destroyed in a matter of seconds.

Even as far as they were the shock-wave caught up to them and shook the entire helicopter.

"Hang on to something!" Naruto yelled as he grabbed the nearest thing he could and he closed his eyes until he heard a wet, piercing sound.

A pole of some sort inside the helicopter was shaken loose by the blast and began spinning toward Angela. Alice, seeing this, throws herself in front of the girl and, as a result, was impaled by the pole.

"NOOOOO! ALICE!" Naruto yelled, seeing the dark red blood coming out of Alice's mouth.

Alice was only partially aware of the helicopter crash before she died, catching flashes of the event as it happens. But the last thing she sees and hears his Naruto's blue eyes and him yelling in extreme pain.

 _I don_ _'_ _t remember much after the explosion._

 _But I knew Alice was dead. Luckily the only other victim was the pilot, Angie, Jill and L.J survived without injuries. But there was a small problem._

 _Wen I woke in a Hospital, I don't know were, I found out that not everyone had made it out of the crash uninjured. I had lost my right arm. Ripped from my body from the shoulder down._

 _At first I was catatonic, but eventually I had to accept that I had lost a part of myself. At least I still had my precious crucifix._

 _I was able to contact an old friend at the CIA and told them all about what had happened in the City._ _I was promised that they would choose to pay for their crimes and with the camera recordings it was impossible for them not to be convicted._

 _But Umbrella had already done the impossible before. The recordings were discredited by the public and the law, that was the extent of Umbrella's power._

 _Meanwhile, my CIA friend told me about a scientist who specializes in high-tech prostheses and recommended that I go and talk to him about my arm._

 _It cost me a lot of money but I was able to get a brand new metal arm. It was a military prototype but it served perfectly and, with some adjustments, it became even better than my original arm. With eight times more strength, coordination and a little bonus, my new arm was the best. (Think of the Winter Soldier's arm, without the star.)_

 _A few days later, one of my informants told me that Umbrella had brought Alice back from the dead and were experimenting with her. I and the others made a plan to rescue it, but we didn't even have to execute it._

 **Three weeks** **after the crash**

She was cold and wet, she didn't what to open her eyes. She could see light behind her closed eyelids, there also was a breathing tube in her mouth.

" _Alice_ _, sweetheart_."

Who as Alice? Was that a man's voice? Who was he?

" _Alice_."

Now was a little girl's. What's happening? Where was she?

" _ALICE_ _, WAKE UP_!" the combined voices of both the man and little girl made her eyes snap wide open. She was inside some kind of thank, filled with greenish water and there was a man looking at her from the other side of the glass.

"Can you hear me?" she panicked, her eyes wide in confusion. This wasn't the voice she heard, this one was strange to her, lacked the warmth that other one she had heard before and made her skin crawl. "Do you understand what I'm saying?" she started trashing against her restraints and the man nodded. "Good. Begin the purging process."

The water inside the thank started being drained, allowing her to breathe without the mask, and she turned her head wildly in all direction. What was happening?

When the water was gone the thank opened outward making so that she was lying down on the cold glass. She coughed and her body started convulsing and shivering on its own. The man with the creepy voice covered her with a lab coat hiding her naked body from view. She sat up, the man grabbed her hand gently and she tried to speak.

"Whe-whe-whe..." ' _Come on Alice, you can do it_.' she heard the warm voice again.

"Where are you?" She turned to him. "You're safe."

He slowly helped her get up and leaned her gently against the wall. There was another man taking notes next to them and she looked at what he was using to write with curiosity.

Seeing the curiosity shinning in her eyes the creepy man grabbed both the pen and paper.

"Do you know what this is?" He mentioned to the object. "It's a pen. See? You try." She grabbed the pen and tried to draw, only managing to do some random lines on the paper.

"That's it...it's a pen." he took the shiny object from her hand as she tried to say the word repeatedly and cradled her face. "Look at me. Can you remember anything? Mmmmm? You remember you're name?"

"My name? My name...?" She kept muttering, over and over again. Then pain flooded her head as she got flashes, some were of her, others were of other people. People she was beginning to remember.

"My name..."

Another flash was a woman woman with dark hair, another of a little girl in a school uniform and another one of a dark-skinned man with a hat. Then a blond man, smirking at her gripping a rifle to his chest and saying something she couldn't hear.

"My name..."

" _Come on_ _Alice_ _, you can do it_."

The there were flashes of the first man, Dr. Isaacs the same man that had experimented on her and Matt. He looked at her, hearing her speak louder.

"... Is Alice." she smirked at the look of fear of the doctor and the others. "And I remember everything." quick as lightning she grabbed the pen that was in the hand of one of the doctors beside her and made to stab him in the eye only stopping less than an inch away.

Letting the pen fall she elbowed him on the face and punched two more, with one hand always holding the sheet that was covering her . She grabbed Doctor Isaacs and threw him against the glass of the thank breaking it and knocking him out.

A guard tried to shock her with a taser but as the needles penetrated her skin she showed no signs of slowing down or even being hurt. She jus tilted her head and ripped the needles of out, throwing them at the guard's neck. She walks out of the lab, barefoot and naked under the sheet (literally) and walks through an enormous corridor. She somehow senses that she was being watched by one of the security guards.

See looks up at one of the surveillance cameras and, inside the security office the guard cried in agony as a massive pain struck his head and his eyes, mouth, nose and hears tarted to bleed. Then, he went silent and fell on the floor, dead.

As Alice exited the building she was confronted by a dozen armed soldiers waiting outside, ready to kill her if she moved.

She looked around and knew she had no chance, even with her new abilities.

And that was when a black SUV parks right behind the soldiers. From inside comes out a woman that she imminently recognized. Smirking she watches as Jill Valentine, Lloyd Jefferson Wade and Naruto Namikaze got out of the vehicle and the dark haired woman told the guards "Thank you gentleman, but we'll take it from here."

"On whose authority?" the leader asked.

Then the man, the blond man whose smile and eyes made her feel warm inside stepped between the two and, without even taking his eyes off Alice slams a written order that placed Alice on their custody on the guard's chest. Alice briefly noted that he was wearing a glove on his right hand.

"Classified, level six authorization."

He looked good in a suit she mused as she looked him over. His hair was still the same but the blond beard was now a stubble. She liked it better that way.

The guard murmured an apology as Jill walked up to the barely covered woman and guided her to the car were L.J and Angie were waiting.

Halfway there Naruto took his back blazer and placer it on Alice's shoulders, squeezing warmly. They got inside the car and L.J drove off.

They stopped at a checkpoint were Naruto had to show his forged ID and, as it was being checked one of the guards received a call.

" _Let them go_." The voice of Doctor Isaacs came through and the guard pressed the button that made the blockade raise. They drove away calmly.

Naruto turned back from his place on the passenger seat at the front and smiled at Alice, with his clue eyes shinning.

"Good to have you back sweetheart." Alice gave him a slight smile.

"Are you alright?" Angie asked.

" _Program Alice activated_."

"What did they do to you?" Jill asked concerned.

Alice didn't respond to any of their questions, she just looked at Naruto.

"Thanks for coming for me."

Naruto nodded and smiled at her.

"Always."

With that said she looked out the window and knew that she shouldn't get comfortable because...it wasn't over, far from it.

It was only the beginning.

 **Hours latter**

After hours of driving through the state, they drove to one of the safe houses Naruto had had since his time in the CIA. No one spoke during the trip but had to stop so that Alice could wear something more than the simple sheet. Now she had a black tank top, sweatpants and sneakers on.

When she returned to the car, Naruto was in the driver's seat and L.J was at the place where she was previously. As she made herself comfortable on her seat she noticed that Naruto had taken his tie off, leaving him only with the button up shirt, with the first two buttons undone, and the dress pants.

He was rolling his sleeves absently, staring out the window, not remembering what had happened to his arm. When he rolled up the right sleeve and took off the glove Alice gasped.

"What happened?" she almost shouted, seeing the metal member, shining in the sunlight that struck it. Naruto looked at his arm and cursed, he did not want her to find out that way.

"You were not the only one affected by the crash." he started, as her fingers explored the cold metal surface. He let her roll up her sleeve to see where the prosthesis went. "When we crashed, I was jolted out of the helicopter and my arm got stuck. It was ripped from the shoulder down." behind him, Jill flinched, she was the one that had found him bleeding out on the ground near the crash.

Alice undid two more buttons of his shirt and opened it so that she could see the scar.

"I'm so sorry." she whispered as he gentle fingers caressed the skin around the scar.

"Why? You didn't do it." he grinned then, grabbing her hand and gently holding it with his metal one. "Besides, I think of it as an improvement." she smiled hesitantly at hims and looked at their joined hands. He gave her an affectionate squeeze and started the car.

As Naruto drove, Alice studied him.

He looked better than he did wen they were in the city, more alive. Alice sighed and looked out the window. She leaned her head against the glass and let the sound of the car and the light from dawn lull her to sleep.

 **W** **eek** **s** **later**

The world was going to shit.

Both Naruto and Jill were being hunted by the authorities for questioning, because of the videos that Naruto had sent to the CIA.

Two days after they arrived at the safe house, reports of ' _people coming back from the dead_ ' attacking and eating others began. After that, it was a matter of time for some of the major cities and the whole country to be infected. Now, there were undead on the streets and going out alone was suicide.

They remained hidden through all that, the safe house was big enough to accommodate everyone comfortably for a few months.

It had four bedrooms and they each occupied one, except for Jill, who shared hers with Angie. The little girl had nightmares almost every night, so they all agreed that someone should stay with her at night and Jill volunteered.

There also was a kitchen, a living room and a bathroom for everyone but they made it work. They didn't have a choice after all.

After lunch, Jill and L.J had gone to get more supplies, Naruto didn't have enough to feed five people. He never thought that he would be in a situation like the present one, so he only had provisions for two in the safe house.

Naruto sighed, leaning his left arm against the shower wall, he had to remove the metal one seeing as it could not be wet, and shivered. The hot water had ended three days ago, so now...cold showers.

Turning to the water, the blue-eyed man dried himself as best he could with just one arm. Thankfully, the CIA trained their agents to be ambidextrous.

He put the metal arm back in place and left the bathroom, wearing a t-shirt and sweatpants.

In her room, Alice was sitting on her bed thinking and sighed. She knew she had to leave, Umbrella would come for her sooner or later and she wasn't going to take the risk of them catching her with her friends. She heard footsteps behind her door and then a knock.

"Alice." It was Naruto's cheerful voice. "You've been in there for hours, you'll need to come out eventually."

She sighed again and closed her eyes, this was something she would miss, his voice, his eyes, his warmth. She knew she had had some kind of feelings for him and that was the worst part. It made her attached and she new that if she acted upon those feeling, she wouldn't be able to leave.

The weeks they had to get to know each other revealed to her a lot about his personality. He was a cheerful person, focused when it was accurate, kind, and excellent with Angie.

Of course he had imperfections, he can't cook anything but ramen. Although it was very good, they had no ingredients for it. He often left alone to get some supplies, which was very dangerous with the dead walking the streets.

"Can I come in?" he asked.

"Yes."

He opened the door and saw her wearing a white tank top and shorts. Her dirty blonde hair was still wet, she had taken a shower before him and closed herself in her room.

"What's wrong?" He asked seeing her troubled look and sat next to her on the bed. She looked him in the eye and her heart throbbed with the pain of knowing she was leaving. And here he was, concerned with how she was doing.

"Nothing just thinking." Naruto hummed in response.

"Thank you." She whispered.

"Mmmmm?" he tilted his head in confusion.

"You came for me even if you didn't have to-" he grasped her hand, interrupting her.

"Alice." he smiles at her, the same smile that seamed to be just for her. "I'll always come for you...I owe you that much."

She frowned and shook her head. "You don't owe me anything." Naruto chuckled.

"That came out wrong sorry." he cleared his throat. "What I meant was that you're one of my special people, and I'll always move heaven and earth to help them." then he smirked. "Even if they're already halfway there."

Alice presented him with a light chuckle. It warmed her inside to know that and it pained her at the same time. She looked down at her feet and thought for a long moment.

The man looked at her and sighed. Reaching to the back of his neck he took his necklace off.

"Here." she looked at him and he placed the crucifix around her neck. "This is for you." Alice looked at the object, shocked.

"I can't accept this." she muttered and was about to reach back wen Naruto captured her hands with his.

"Its a gift, a way of you knowing that no matter what, I'll always be there for you." she gazed his blue eyes and smiled, even if her chest was caving in with pain.

"Thank you." Alice whispered, making Naruto chuckle huskily. He gently cradled the back of her head and, for a moment, she thought he was going to kiss her. She was right, he kissed her, but not on the lips. He kissed her forehead.

"Get some rest, you look tired." he got up and made his way to the door. "I'll come by latter wen dinner is ready." and left.

Alice looked down at the holy symbol and caressed it.

"I'm so sorry." a tear fell down her face.


	2. Years

My name is Naruto Uzumaki, and I was a member of the Umbrella Biohazard Countermeasure Service unit during the T-Virus outbreak in Raccoon City. While returning from a mission, I disobeyed orders issued by Umbrella, the organization that I worked for, and tried to rescue a woman who was being attacked by a group of infected. However, the survivor was bitten in the arm and thus contaminated with the virus. Knowing that she would eventually die and turn into the same things that had attacked her, the survivor decided to commit suicide by jumping off the building, despite my efforts to try and save her life.

After that my partners, Nicholai Ginovaef and Yuri Loginova, and I later received orders to assist the Special Tactics And Rescue Squad and the R.P.D. officers at an extraction point located in the heart of Raccoon City. We tried to help them, but the infected overran the streets, killing and eating anything alive on their way. In the middle of the confusion, Yuri was bitten and infected.

It wasn't long before Yuri died and came back as an undead.

When he came back, I was bitten and infected by him. I shook him off, but he came at me again, so I was forced to shoot Yuri in the head.

After that, Nicholai and I became rogue agents after Umbrella failed to get us out of the city.

At some point, we were contacted by Dr. Charles Ashford, who offered us a way out of the city in exchange for the rescue of his daughter, Angela Ashford, who was trapped inside the Raccoon City Junior School.

We accepted his terms, and we went to get the girl. When we arrived, my partner and I parted to cover more ground and find the hopefully still human and alive kid.

I met Lloyd Jefferson Wayne, L.J for short, inside the school after saving him from an Undead who caught him off-guard. It seemed the doctor had recruited help.

We both teamed up and eventually meet up with two women, Jill Valentine and Alice.

Alice was a high-ranking Umbrella security operative, but she joined a deep cover operation by members of the US law enforcement to reveal the company's illegal viral research data to the world. Obviously, it didn't work, and she ended up being captured and taken into quarantine at Raccoon General Hospital, where she was experimented on. To me, she was a hell of a woman.

We were prepared to shoot on each other when L.J interrupted and vouched for me as someone who was on their side. As my infection worsened, Alice, somehow aware that I had been bitten, declared me fortunate. After that, we contacted , who gives us the location of the extraction point, and assures us that "it is lightly guarded.". Yeah right.

On the way to City Hall Alice gave me the Anti-virus, which counters my T-virus infection. On the way there we shared our stories and found we were not so different from one another. I offered her my help and support to bring Umbrella down to their knees after I told my story.

When we got there, we defeated all of the guards, but we were confronted by Major Cain in the end.

Cain had been aware of Ashford's plan, so he captured him and finally killed him, forcing Alice to fight Nemesis, a monster created by Umbrella, for our safety. As she defeated Nemesis in hand-to-hand combat, she realized his true identity, her former friend Matt Addison, and refused to deliver the killing blow. Her mercy appeared to rekindle a trace of Nemesis's former humanity, and they join forces to defeat the Umbrella troops, but Nemesis was killed in the ensuing fight. I joined them and was capable to find a way out of the city by using Umbrella's last escort, the chopper. We were able to escape before Raccoon City was destroyed by a nuclear weapon that was meant to clean the entire city. Unfortunately, the shock wave from the explosion hit the helicopter, dislodging a piece of metal that hurtled towards Angela but Alice leaped in front of her and was impaled by it, saving the girl from a horrible death. The helicopter then crashed somewhere in the Arklay Mountains.

We fled but left Alice's body behind believing that was the best decision. And we were proved right when after a couple of weeks we received news that Umbrella was able to bring Alice back to life.

We managed to rescue Alice but she was different, they had done something to her.

After a few days, we got to a safe house that I had and stayed there for a few weeks. At first everything seemed fine, but eventually, the infection began to spread across the continent. After a while I approached Alice one night, when Jill and L.J were out to collect supplies, to talk and to see if she was alright.

Words were exchanged, gifts were given and, for a minute, I thought everything was going to be alright.

But I was foolish.

She left us, she left me... the only thing left behind was a note where she apologized, saying that it wasn't safe for us to be around her.

I was very angry for a while but eventually understood that she must have had a good reason to leave.

Weeks after that the infection was uncontrollable and had spread around the world. We left the safe house and, for a year, roamed the United States, searching for anything that would help us survive. After a while, our group was divided. Jill and Angie were separated from L.J and me when we were confronting a group of survivors that wanted to steal our supplies.

After a couple of weeks searching, we were able to find Angie, but not Jill. Angela stopped talking right about that time, I think she has some kind of trauma lingering from being alone all those days.

Months later we joined with Claire Redfield's convoy of survivors, traveling through the Nevada Desert and the ruins of Las Vegas.

I became a kind of lieutenant for Claire since my military training and my skills made me a very good survivor, so I help her guiding the convoy through the sea of death and infection that now covered the earth. Even if she already was doing a fine job at that.

Now, there is only one thing we all have to focus on...

Survive.

 **Present Time**

In the middle of a highway somewhere in Nevada an undead that had just killed a human, that had stopped in the middle of the desert to fix his car but found himself cough off guard as the walking corpse surprised him from behind and killed the human. Now, the walking corpse was feasting on the flesh that it hungered for.

It was in the middle of eating a lung when it heard a sound, unknown to it, of a car. It turned it's rotten head and was greeted with a Hummer to the face. It rolled beneath the vehicle and came to a stop a few feet away. It raised it's ugly head again and received blades attached to the tires of a school bus full of people, including children, in the face again effectively killing it. The spray of blood that came from its head splashed the of the bus.

"Ohohohoh, that was a juicy one huh?" chuckled the driver of the bus, Otto, looking back to the cheering kids.

The convoy was constituted by six vehicles, a bus, an ambulance, a yellow Hummer, a van, a Military truck and another truck that carried gas. Driving the military truck was a man with short, blond hair and an equally blond beard, and deep blue eyes, he also had a scar going from the top of his left eye down to his cheek.

He was wearing a black long sleeved shirt, with a black bulletproof vest over it, where he had ammo magazines attached to. He had black combat pants, and he had attached holsters to his thighs. On his hands were finger-less gloves and he also had a dark green scarf around his neck.

In the holsters, he had his two trustworthy Desert Eagles and, strapped to his belt, was the sheath that had an all-black machete inside. He had found it over a year ago in an abandoned campsite and had learned to use it paired with one of his guns.

Naruto sighed as he looked to the teenager next to him, Angela was now sixteen years old but looked almost the same as the first time he had met her. After losing Jill and spending days alone, surrounded by flesh-eating monsters and God knows what else, she stopped talking, choosing to communicate using sign language that, thankfully, Naruto had learned it during his time at the CIA. Only a handful of people in the convoy knew how to sign, so normally the girl kept to herself, following closely behind her girlfriend, K-Mart, who also took upon herself to learn sign language.

Right now, the girl was looking out the window, trying to distract herself from the heat inside the truck. Dressed in her black tank top, jeans, and boots, she could do little to nothing against the weather.

Angie's gaze turned to the Naruto, who was now concentrating on the road and smiled. The blond had become her father over the last five years, and she trusted him with her life, he was her teacher her confidant, her rock, and her heart had broke seeing how personal he took when Alice had abandoned them. She knew that the mercenary had feelings for the mysterious woman and he had closed up after that, only showing his true self to her and a few selected people. Her condition had all but disappeared by some strange reason, and that had allowed her to survive this infernal world they now called home.

Noticing Naruto roll the sleeves of his shirt, she saw his metal arm. Due to the experiments that the scientist that had gifted Naruto with his new arm, the man now was almost superhuman, easily compared with the abilities demonstrated by Alice in Racoon City. His body had adapted to the strength of his metal arm and had balanced itself so that it was not only his arm that had an improvement, he was faster now, stronger, his senses were heightened, the wounds, that would take a normal human a month to heal, healed in a week or two.

Naruto had taken full advantage of his new abilities to protect the ones he loved, fighting tooth and nail to make sure they were all safe, even if that meant that he would get injured in their place.

" _Hey, Naruto this is Claire._ " he reached for the radio and pressed on the transmission button as the voice of the leader of the convoy, Claire Redfield, came through the radio that was attached to the van's dashboard.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't the angriest ginger in the world... What's up, Red?" he teased, making Angie giggle.

" _You got any smokes?_ "

Naruto snorted, he should have guessed.

"No..." he responded dryly, he gave up smokes after Angie had shown that she was curious about them, there was no way that his little girl was going to try them.

" _Come on, like I'm supposed to believe that._ "

Naruto chuckled. "Come on Red, would I lie to you?"

She huffed and changed the frequency of the signal and started to ask the same question to everyone.

" _Yeah people, it really is the end of the world..._ " Otto ended up saying.

Naruto looked out the window and could help thinking 'Yeah, no fucking shit Sherlock...'

Sighing, Naruto leaned back, and while he was driving, the image of the blonde woman that he had met five years ago popped up in his head. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, he had decided long ago that, if he ever saw Alice again he would act upon them, in the world that they were living he could die at any minute, and he wasn't willing to waste any more time hiding his feelings.

Little did he know that, miles away, the same woman he was thinking about had also decided the same.

 **Miles away same time**

Looking through the scope of her crossbow, Alice gazed at the zombie that was stumbling near the gas station that she wanted to check out. Alice lowered the sights of the weapon to survey the perimeter, alert to any more hostiles but didn't sense anymore infected nearby, so the lonely undead was her only target. She caught a glimpse of the nametag that the undead had attached to his shirt, previously worn by the employees of the gas station.

"Sorry about this Stevie..." taking a deep breath to stabilize the weapon, she pressed the trigger. The arrow flew through the air and nailed it dead-center in the forehead, sticking the walking corpse to the van behind it.

It didn't survive.

With skillful hands, she dismantled the crossbow and placed it back inside one of the bags hanging from the side of her bike, a BMW K 1200 R. She sighed as she mounted her bike, driving to the station.

Alice had a sand-colored tank top, with spaghetti straps. Over this, she wore a short-sleeved brown shirt, with a few buttons done up at the bottom. She also had brown full chaps with stocking-style straps at the front, which appeared to be part of her shirt, as well as short olive cotton cut-off shorts. Her olive twin leg holsters were held with waist straps that crossed over at the back, she also had a dark scarf and fingerless gloves and had a full length, light brown duster coat.

Under her shirt, she had the cross that Naruto, the man that she had feelings for, had given her before she left him and a few others. She had kept it, and it was very dear to her.

She approached the gas station and parked her bike in front of one of the gas tanks. Getting off the bike, she glanced around, taking note of the collapsing structure and worn out look of the place.

She neared the tanks, with the hope that it still had a bit of gas left. But as she took the hose and tried pressing the 'trigger' nothing came out. She put it back in place with a frown and knocked her knuckles against the gas tank, hearing the hollow noise that it made.

Alice sighed in frustration as she walked up to the door of the station and drew her gun from its holster. Raising the gun, she entered the dirty, rejected establishment, it had already been looted, the shelves that previously contained all kinds of food and liquids were now empty, and there were just empty cans of food.

CLINK

Startled, Alice turned around and looked down, she had stumbled on a jar with small coins near it. Sighing in relief, she carefully walked to the only closed door of the area, her silent steps making no noise as she approached it. With her right hand still gripping the gun, she opened the door with her left.

GASP

The foul smell of the decaying corpse and the flies hovering around it, made her grab her scarf and cover her mouth and nose to block the stench. Alice coughed and waved her arms around, trying to keep the flies away from her.

Looking down, she caught sight a journal so, she grabbed it fast and left the station, almost running out.

When she got out and approached her bike, she heard through the radio the transmission that she had been hearing for a good week.

"This is Claire Redfield's convoy, broadcasting for any survivors. Is anybody out there?" the voice was of a man, so she had long since come to the conclusion that this Claire was their leader.

As the message repeated, she looked at the undead she had killed when she arrived. There was crow eating what was remaining of its eye. She got on the motorcycle and opened the journal, where she saw pictures of satellite footage and postcards of Alaska with the word 'ISOLATED' underlined.

She looked at the horizon and, for a moment she thought of a place, a place where a blond man with the deepest blue eyes she had ever seen could be holding her in his arms, a place were the warmth that he radiated would cover her from head to toe, and maybe, just maybe, they could finally be happy.

Those feelings that she had for Naruto, were one of the things that kept her going through the hell that covered the planet. It had been so hard to leave him, it broke her heart to do so and, after years, she just wanted to see him again, and confess her feelings for him.

And that was what gave her hope.

Now, with a smiled on her lips, she started the engine of the bike and continued on her journey through the desert, with a certain blond man in her thoughts.


	3. The Motel

After four extra hours of driving through the wasteland, the convoy finally stopped. Naruto and L.J were on top of the bus scouting the motel a few miles up the road through some binoculars. Naruto was kneeling on the roof of the bus, while L.J was sitting, inspecting the surrounding area but found no signs of humans, still alive or otherwise.

"Seems quiet..." the blonde man commented as he handed the binoculars to his dark-skinned friend. L.J was one of the few people that he truly trusted in what was left of the world, along with few others.

"Yeah." L.J accepted the binoculars. "Don't they always..."

Touching the earpiece he had in his left ear with his metal hand, he contacted Claire.

"Red. Looks clear, shall we go in?" Naruto asked the woman, who was near her Hummer.

" _Your choice, boys._ "

Nodding, Naruto patted L.J on the back as he raised to his feet.

"Come on, let's go." he grinned excitedly as jumped to the ground, producing a cloud of dust when he landed.

"Let's go, brother!"

Walking to the Hummer, Naruto looked sideways to his friend. They had known each other for five years now and had been surviving together after they lost Jill. He was a good man, and Naruto was happy he had found happiness with the convoy's doctor, Betty.

L.J was one of the small group of people that knew the depth of his feelings for Alice, he sometimes talked with Angie, K-Mart, and Claire about what happened in Racoon City and after that. They were also the ones that helped him control his new 'abilities', and come to terms with them.

They were his family...

With K-Mart, the 17 year old girl that he came to think of as a little sister, loved to hear stories of his 'adventures' since the beginning of the infection so, the tale of how he, L.J, Jill, Angie, and Alice escaped the overrun city was a personal favorite to her, even with the morbid end of it.

Claire Redfield another matter altogether. The 31-year-old woman had been hesitant to let him stay with the group after watching him brutally killing a group of people that had attacked them, and tried to kidnap Angie weeks after they found a group of men scavenging a little town for food. The woman never killed a defenseless, living human being in her life, only dead ones, so the sight of the blond man doing it without even flinching disturbed her. He explained to her that he wouldn't kill humans until it was absolutely necessary, but those men tried to take his little girl, and probably had something horrible on their minds to do with the girl.

Making his way towards the yellow Hummer, he drew one of his handguns from its holster, and he checked the ammo. Better be prepared for anything was one of the first things you learn nowadays.

L.J drove them to the entrance of the motel and, when they arrived, he turned the engine off.

"You ready N?"

"Always brother." cocking his gun Naruto got of the car and, with careful and silent footsteps, the two of them approached the already opened glass door of the motel. Naruto went inside first checking the ruined lobby and front desk, it was clear.

L.J joined him and looked around the place.

"I'm gonna get me a room, I'll take a waterbed, a jacuzzi and I'm gonna rent me a porno." Naruto chuckled at that as the dark-skinned man grinned, some times, getting the blond man to even smile was a pain in the ass.

"Yeah, you do that while I check out the owner's office." L.J nodded and went to check the rooms in the corridor on the left, while Naruto prepared his gun and went to the office.

The windows were sealed with wood planks, probably to keep the walkers out, the blond man thought as he approached the destroyed office door, turning the corner he inspected the room.

It was trashed, the furniture was damaged and worn out, and had nothing interesting or worth taking, so he went to the next room ahead.

Naruto spent the next minutes searching for something salvageable or threatening but found nothing, so he decided to go look for L.J.

As he walked through the corridor the other man had taken he heard sounds of a struggle, L.J's voice, and gunshots. He ran to the room where the sound was coming from and saw an undead woman jump on L.J and pin him to the bed.

Before the undead could bite his friend, Naruto grabbed it by the back of its neck with his metal hand, and threw it against the only mirror in the room, shattering it. The corpse was momentarily stunned, so he took his handgun out and shot it dead center on the forehead.

L.J sighed in relief and collapsed on the bed, meanwhile, Naruto looked down and saw another zombie, this one already dead, killed by L.J before the blond managed to arrive.

"You good?" the grin on his face was growing. "Didn't piss your pants this time, did you?" he roared in laughter as his friend gave him the finger. Roughly a year ago, they had been attacked by a group of undead, and, for some reason, L.J had pissed himself as they tried to escape, and Naruto never let it go.

" _What happened? You two ok?_ " Claire's panicked voice was heard from Naruto's earpiece. Still chuckling, Naruto brought one finger up and pressed on the transmission button.

"We're fine, L.J's a little banged up he'll survive." glancing at the dead zombies and then at the still alive man Naruto approached him and helped him up. He had a scratch on the head, probably from hitting his head somewhere during the struggle, and it was bleeding, leaving a trail going down his left cheek. "Tell Betty to come over to check up on him. Otherwise, it's all clear, you can move in."

" _Roger that._ "

"Come on old man." with one of L.J's arms around his shoulders, they made their way to the lobby.

"Old man my ass..." L.J grumbled making Naruto chuckle yet again.

Once in the lobby, Naruto sat the older man on one of the chairs and saw the ambulance and school bus parking outside. From the ambulance emerged a dark-skinned woman with sunglasses. She walked up to them with a medkit in hand.

"Somebody needs my help?" Betty had been a nurse before the world had gone to shit, and a damn good one too. She had patched Naruto up more time than he could remember, bullet wounds, scratches, you name it...

"It's nothing, but if you insist..." Naruto groaned, they were flirting in front of him again. Betty knelled by the chair and looked at the wound closer.

"That's right." she gently moved his head to get a better look. "So sit back and relax." opening the med kit she grinned teasingly. "You like playing rough, uh?"

"Oh, I've had worse..." L.J smiled.

"I'm sure."

"But you've always been gentle with me Betty." nope, Naruto couldn't take it.

"Oh God, I'm out of here..." he started walking, but a hand on his arm stopped him.

"You're going nowhere until I get a look at that wound." she sternly said and gestured to his shirt. "Let me see."

Sighing, Naruto took his vest off, then pulled the shirt up, showing a white bandage with a little red on it that was around his stomach. He had been shot a few days ago, protecting the convoy from some raiders.

After toughing it for a while, Betty reached inside the medkit and took some more supplies.

"You shouldn't waste those on me," he grunted as she ripped the old dressing off quickly.

"Maybe," she said, covering his wound back up again. "But there is a little girl out there that needs you more than anything right now, and you being hurt doesn't help a bit."

He shook his head as she turned back at L.J and walked out.

"Hey Namikaze!" he turned around and saw Mikey, their computer expert. "Claire wants us to set the perimeter."

"Ok, consider it done." it was already getting late, the sun was approaching the horizon. The blue-eyed man went to the back of the military truck and saw the quad-bike already out and prepared.

Nodding in thanks at Eddie, one of the survivors, he got on the bike and turned the engine on. On each side of the bike, there were ten metal ticks with cameras and motion sensors attached to them. They were Mikey's creation, a way to make sure they were safe if they stopped somewhere for a long period of time.

Revving up the engine, he started setting the perimeter up, stabbing the metal sticks in the ground at regular intervals. He was on his last three when he heard Claire's voice through the earpiece.

" _Hey, Naruto._ "

"Ginger." was the response she got, making the woman sigh in annoyance.

" _All that ramen is slowing you down. Get your ass in gear, numbnuts. I want my perimeter up._ " he chuckled and placed the last one, making his way back to camp.

When he arrived, he saw K-Mart and Angie waiting for him with cans of food in their hands. They were giggling, and Angie's hand were so fast, he couldn't understand most of what was being signed. Something about blonds and long hours of driving.

When he was close, K-Mart presented him with the cans and a grin. He loved that they could be so happy, even with all the shit that was happening around them.

"So, I've got pork and beans and canned fruit, which one do you want?" Naruto, still on the bike, eyed each can with a critical eye. K-Mart rolled her eyes and gave him the pork and beans one, not wanting to wait forever until he decided.

Naruto chuckled as he got off the bike and walked with the girls to the van where Mikey and Claire were making sure that the perimeter was functioning correctly.

"There's a storm coming our way," Mikey announced as he inspected the live footage and saw the clouds gathering. Cursing, Claire got out of the van and started barking orders to the convoy people to pack things up and get inside the vehicles.

The blued eyed man looked up to the sky and then the sun in the horizon, right in time to see the last light ray of the day. He closed his eyes and allowed the weight of the day to make itself known. He was tired, driving for hours wasn't a pleasant experience.

"You two should go inside, now." the girls nodded and went inside the Hummer while he ate his food, watching Claire and the others run around like headless chickens. Personally, he admired Claire, for having the strength to command and lead a group of thirty people through an apocalypse were everything wanted a piece of you, even without the proper training, military or otherwise.

Throwing his now empty can of food to the ground, he went inside the military truck and got himself comfortable on the driver's seat.

It was going to be a long, long night.

 **Same time Middle of the desert**

Alice had stopped for the night behind a sand dune, and build a campfire. She took off her coat and laid a few blankets on the ground, close to the fire. The nights in the desert were cold but thanks to the T-Virus, the cold didn't bother her, it was a plus side of it along with enchanted strength, resilience, agility, reflexes, accelerated healing and recovery. It felt like consolation prizes for all of the experimentation that Umbrella had done to her.

She was sitting on a blanket and was dampening a cloth with some water to clean the sweat that had gathered around her neck. Looking at the open journal at her feet, she bought the cloth up to her neck to let the water run down her back when she felt the cold chain of the crucifix that was around her neck.

Placing the cloth down she wrapped it in her hand, remembering how she got it.

 **Flashback**

 _"Here." she looked at him, and he placed the crucifix around her neck. "This is for you." Alice looked at the object, shocked._ _"I can't accept this," she muttered and was about to reach back when Naruto captured her hands with his._ _"Its a gift, a way of you knowing that no matter what, I'll always be there for you." she gazed his blue eyes and smiled, even if her chest was caving in with pain._ _"Thank you," Alice whispered, making Naruto chuckle huskily. He gently cradled the back of her head and, for a moment, she thought he was going to kiss her. She was right, he did kiss her, but not on the lips. He kissed her forehead._

 **Flashback End**

She never took it off of her neck and, in a way, it made her feel closer to the target of her affection, even if they were possibly countless miles away from each other.

She missed him, missed his warmth, his blue eyes that would look at her with such a shine that it made her shudder.

Sighing, she looked down at the journal and listened to another transmission from Redfield's Convoy. Blindly she turned the radio off and picked the little book up. As she skipped through the pages, she saw that whoever had written it, believed that there was a place in Alaska that was safe from the zombies. She closed the book and looked up, maybe it was true, or maybe it wasn't, either way, she had other things to worry about, naming one, of course, was Umbrella.

 **Hours later**

It was in the middle of the night, and everything was quiet, there was absolutely no sound except for the cracking of burning wood of the fire near the sleeping woman. The storm that previously had been in the horizon had dispersed, and the stars painted the blackness of the night sky.

All in all, it was a peaceful night, something that was rare nowadays.

But even so, Alice's eyes were moving erratically under her eyelids due to the nightmare that was disturbing her sleep. She tossed and turned, trying to fight the flashing images that were filling her dreams, the flashback of and his experiments.

Around her rocks and other objects around her started to levitate, even her bike as well.

The nightmare turned more violent when she saw the doctor doing experiments not on her, but on Naruto. She saw him strapped to a metal table, screaming while being injected with the T-Virus like her. But, instead of the virus bonding with him like it did with her, he started to turn into a very deformed undead.

"Naruto..." his name slipped from her sleeping lips as she turned more violently.

"NARUTO!"

THUNK

Alice jerked awake and drew her handgun as the sound of one of the levitating rocks hit the ground.

CRASH!

Then she covered her head, as the bike and everything else came crashing down all around her. The woman looked around, and let herself fall back on the blankets sighting in resignation.

Alice raised her head from her position laying down to look at the destroyed bike and wiped the sweat off her forehead.

"Shit..." she cursed.

Well, it seemed that she would have to do a lot of walking in the morning...


	4. What Happens Next

It hadn't been such a bad night as Naruto was waiting for, the storm went away as quickly as it arrived which was good, and it allowed him to sleep decently through the night.

The convoy as a whole as still asleep as the sun raised on the horizon, indicating the beginning of a new day. Everything was calm and quiet, but not for long.

Naruto was harshly awoken by the sound of flapping wings and, rubbing his eyes, he looked outside, only to feel dread. All around them, on top of the vehicles, on the roof of the motel, on the power lines were hundreds of infected crows.

"Oh my God..." Naruto muttered as he saw the hundreds of infected birds surrounding the convoy. Soon enough the rest of the convoy was awake and looking out their windows in fear.

" _Naruto_." Claire's frighten voice drew his attention to the radio on the dashboard, and he picked it up.

"I see them." thinking quickly he pressed on the transmitter again. "Everyone stay in your trucks."

" _What's going on?_ " Chase asked from his truck.

" _Everybody stay in their trucks, roll up the windows, and keep quiet._ " Claire harshly ordered.

Naruto drew both his guns and cocked them, ready for everything. Angie, who was sitting next to him on the passenger seat started paying.

"Kid, leave God out of this. He wants no part of what happens next," he whispered to the fearful man.

Everyone was closing the windows as fast as they could, even with the metal bars protecting them from the outside dangers they weren't taking any chances.

Inside the bus, Otto was making sure that everybody was closing their windows and being silent when a crow landed on the front of the bus.

They all froze in fear as the red eyes of the infected creature observed them.

CLANK

A food can fell on the ground of the bus breaking the silence and alerting the creature. It began to screech and flapping its wings around alerting the hundreds, maybe thousands of crows that were around them. With a quick movement, the birds flew up and around the convoy, producing a big hurricane of black feathers and talons.

" _Fire it up. Let's get out of here!_ "

The noise of engines turning on was heard all around them as Naruto turned to the silent teenager, only to see her holding a shotgun close to her chest. With his own handgun in his right hand, he looked around to make sure everybody was moving.

They weren't.

The ambulance was stuck, and Naruto realized that L.J and Betty were still inside the medical vehicle.

"Fucking shit!" he cursed loudly, hitting the steering well with his fist, as he saw them getting out and running to the bus. They managed to get inside safely, but now all the crows were concentrating their efforts on it.

Otto stepped on the pedal but, with the mass of black feathers blocking his vision on the other side of the glass, he didn't see the light pole until it was too late.

The bus crashed against it, making the metal bars of the windshield fall broken to the ground, leaving he glass unprotected.

Inside the bus, everyone fell to the ground with the impact, the crows were crashing against the windshield trying to break it, cracks were already starting to form.

Cursing and shifting the gear, Naruto drove the military truck as fast as he could to the bus.

" _Naruto, Mikey we have to evac the bus!_ " yeah, no shit Claire...

Inside the bus, Betty and Otto were doing their best to hold the now broken windshield in place with their hands.

"Hold it!" Betty screamed, trying to make herself be heard above all the noise as she used all of her strength to keep the glass in place.

 **A Couple of Miles Away - Same Time**

Alice had been walking for some hours now, seeing that she couldn't use the wrecked bike anymore.

Yeah, telekinesis is a very useful power to have in the middle of a zombie apocalypse, but right now, she was cussing it up a storm.

She sighed for the hundredth time now, bored out o her mind, and seeing nothing but sand all around her for miles.

Hearing some kind of sound that she didn't recognize, Alice looked up and saw hundreds of birds, all going in the same general direction.

They didn't even notice her as they flew by and her eyes narrowed, she could sense the infection that was possessing the crows, and that could only mean one thing.

There were living people nearby.

 **Back at the Motel**

Naruto got out of the truck and, drawing both his handguns from their holsters he began shooting on the crows with surprisingly good accuracy. The blond approached the van that was reversing to the back of the school bus in a hurry, killing birds as he went.

Mikey opened the back doors of the van at the same time L.J opened the ones on the bus.

Naruto reached inside the school bus and slid the metal plank from the back of the bus to the back of the van, making an improvised bridge.

One by one, the people started to get inside the van.

While this was happening, Naruto and Mikey were doing what they could and kill as many crows as they could.

A girl was abruptly scooped up by the crows and fell to the sandy ground. She yelled in terror and pain as a wave of infected birds fell on her, eating her alive.

"FUCK!" Naruto's rage was sky-rocking as he saw the poor girl being eaten alive., he couldn't help her in time, so he concentrated on making sure the others made it.

Pulling out his machete, he sliced an incoming crow in half with a swift movement.

But another girl tripped and fell, and this time, Naruto didn't see her, so, thinking quickly, the girl hid under the bus as the van, now full of people, started driving away.

Naruto was the only one outside doing what he could, shooting and slicing as many crows as possible.

Meanwhile, one of the survivors had gone up one of the vehicles that had a flamethrower on top and started to put it to good use.

"BETTY!" Naruto heard L.J scream desperately and looked at the bus.

Betty had closed the back door so the crows that were already inside, couldn't go after the people in the van but stayed inside and condemned herself to be eaten by the infected creatures.

Turning to the van, were Claire, Angela, K-Mart, and the others were, Naruto yelled. "GO, GO, GO!" and he switched guns since the one he had in his hand had already run out of bullets.

Meantime, the crows had managed to go through the deadly flames and killed the survivor, and now, the flamethrower was spinning out of control.

Naruto then saw movement out the corner of his eye and turned his head, the girl that was under the bus had just seen Otto die right in front of her and, in panic, made a break for it.

Some of the crows were trying to get her, but Naruto ran to her and managed to shoot them before they could reach her.

When he managed to catch up with her, he picked her up by the waist and turned around.

Time slowed down.

The still spinning flamethrower was now pointed in their direction, and he couldn't dodge the flames with the girl in his arms, nor did he have the time to do so.

So he did the only thing he could, he protected her with his body.

He knew he was probably going to die, and that maybe his sacrifice wouldn't be enough to save the girl, but even so, he had to try.

He could feel the flames coming closer, and he expected the burning pain, but none came.

He opened his eyes, raised his head and saw her.

Alice.

 **A Couple of Minutes Earlier**

After running as fast as she could to the place where the crows were flying to, Alice saw that her theory had been correct.

It was a group of humans that was being attacked, firing their guns and trying to survive the tornado of crows.

She saw a flamethrower spinning out of control, and a girl running in her direction being chased by a blond man with a beard.

Wait, what...?

Alice looked at the running man, who didn't even noticed her, being concentrated in trying to save the girl.

When he finally reached the girl, the flames were coming down on them, and that was the moment that she recognized the man.

It was Naruto.

Acting on instinct, she raised a telekinetic shield around the blond, who had surrounded the girl with his arms in a futile attempt to protect her.

Then they made eye contact when he raised his head.

God, the emotions that those blue eyes invoked in her heart was breathtaking, and he felt them too.

Looking at the green eyes of the woman that occupied his thoughts almost every single day only made him realize how much he truly missed her.

Alice had stopped the flames before it could reach them with her powers, and her pupils were wide open as she looked at him.

Then she redirected the flames to the crows and killed them all with the same fire that had nearly killed the blue-eyed man and the girl.

As she did so, a tear fell down her cheek and, in no time, there were only ashes falling from the sky.

The girl in Naruto's arms ran back to the van, frightened by the unknown woman's power.

She chuckled tiredly as he approached with a stupified on his face, and started to fall, but was caught by Naruto's warm, waiting arms.

He cradled her in his arms and caressed her hair.

It wasn't long before she passed out, tired from using her powers on such a scale.

He gazed at her sleeping face as her head fell on his shoulder.

"Alice." he chocked the words out as Claire walked up to him and looked at the passed out woman in surprise.

"Naruto...is this-" he cleared his throat.

"Yes, it's her."

He got up, cradling Alice in his arms bridal style, and went inside the motel.

Once there he laid her on the couch of the lobby as K-Mart approached and he looked at the teenager.

"Watch over her while I go help Claire." the girl nodded seriously and sat down on the same chair where L.J had been the previous day.

"I will." behind the teenager was Angie, who was looking at the sleeping woman with a shocked look on her face.

Naruto maneuvered Alice around so he could take her coat off and folded it placing it beneath her head like a pillow.

Running his hands through her hair, he leaned over and kissed her forehead, causing Alice to shift a little as a small smile made itself known on her lips.

"Thank you, sweetheart." K-Mart, seeing the exchange remembered all the times Naruto and Angela would talk about Alice fondly. As he straightened, he kissed Angie's forehead as well and hugged her, squeezing her against his chest, thanking God for her and the others being alive.

Naruto walked out and took a deep breath.

They had work to do.


	5. Reunion

Alice could fell herself waking up from her dreamless sleep after she used too much of her powers.

As she opened her eyes, she brought her right hand up to rub them but caught a glimpse of something wrapped around her wrist.

It was a bracelet, she touched it and for a moment, admiring it, then, the green-eyed woman looked at her left and saw two girls, seemingly waiting for her to wake up. One was a blonde sitting on a chair near the couch Alice was laying on, and the other girl, who was sitting comfortably on the lap of the blond smiled at the woman.

Alice recognized her immediately.

"Angie?" she asked hesitantly, but when the smile turned into a grin, she knew for sure she was right. The teen got up at the same time as Alice, and they embraced, happy to see each other after so much time.

K-Mart sat awkwardly, not knowing what to do as her girlfriend hugged the source of so many of her stories and affection.

They separated, and Alice turned to the other girl.

"Hi." the girl greeted nervously smiling.

"Hey." Alice smiled at the blonde, who glanced down at Alice's wrist, where the mysterious bracelet rested. "This belong to you?" she asked, mentioning the bracelet on her wrist."Gave it to you earlier, for luck." the girl timidly looked down.

"Thanks." Alice smiled. Her voice was barely a whisper. "What's your name?"

"K-Mart." the older woman raised an eyebrow in an amused confusion while smiling amusedly, making Angie giggle at the teen's embarrassed face. "It's where they found me, Claire and the others... a few years back."

Then, Angie turned to her girlfriend and signed, making Alice look at her in confusion.

"Right, yeah, I'm also Angie's girlfriend," she stated, bringing said girl towards her by the waist.

Alice's eyebrows raised, not because of the announcement, but at the teen's inability to talk, but she quickly recovered.

"I'm glad to hear it." and, smiling, turned to the covered window.

"I guess I should go out there," she muttered, knowing what, or rather, who she was about to face.

Once outside, they found the people who survived the attack burying their dead.

As they approached them, Alice could see Naruto's tall and muscular form next to a redheaded woman that asked. "Anyone wanna say something?"

He had changed his clothes, and she vaguely remembered that he had been covered in infected blood when he caught her. Now, he had a black t-shirt on, with a back bulletproof vest over it that had some hidden pocket, probably with extra ammo for the Smith Wesson Model 629 Competitor Revolver inside the holster strapped to his right thigh. He also had dark cargo pants, with a sheathed knife on the right side of his hip, and combat boots.

Alice noticed his metal arm was still there, and it showed the use Naruto had put it through the years, but it still glinted when the sun reflected on it.

Nobody spoke, but the pain was evident in all their faces, some were kneeling, like L.J, others were standing, and silently crying.

K-Mart and Angela approached Naruto and the redhead as they lowered their heads in silent prayer.

Hearing the teen girls approaching, Naruto turned around, and his gaze was instantly on Alice's form.

He placed his hand on Claire's shoulder and gave it a light squeeze, getting her attention, and the two of them walked up to Alice.

L.J stayed behind, and kneeled by the cross on Betty's grave, and placed a necklace that had belonged to her around it, crying silently for the loss of the woman that meant so much to him.

"Alice, this is Claire Redfield, she's the one that put this convoy together." God, she missed the sound of his voice, and the look he had in his blue eyes was not helping.

Claire looked Alice up and down.

"The Alice?" Naruto only nodded, and the two women shook hands. "Thank you so much for your help." Alice nodded and smiled, accepting the gratitude and the redhead heard someone call for her. "Excuse me I have things to attend to."

As she walked away, both Alice and Naruto glanced at each other, wanting to say so many things, to do so much.

Alice bit her lower lip nervously, drawing the blond's attention to her lips.

Naruto had envisioned their reencounter so many times in his mind, but to finally have her near him and being given the opportunity to say all the things he wanted to say, left him almost speechless.

"In the last six months, she lost half of the convoy." he started, taking his eyes off her alluring lips and walking forward. "Pretty soon there will be more of us dead than alive." then he looked her in the eyes. "Alice, what happened to you? Why did you leave the safe house?" he asked as they continued walking.

"I didn't have a choice, they were using me," Alice said, shaking her head.

Naruto tilted his head confused. "What do you mean?"

"They were tracking me," she shook her head. "I couldn't around you, any of you," Alice then looked at the side. "I would have gotten you all killed."

"That's why you disappeared?" he asked, his jaw tensing in irritation.

"Broke into an Umbrella facility and hacked onto their computers..." the woman shocked her head. "Downloaded the satellite trajectories and stayed off the grid." she shrugged.

"And after the world ended?" he licked his dry lips. "Why didn't you come back?"

"It's just safer if I'm not around people." Alice gritted her teeth.

"Safer?" Alice could see the revolt in his eyes. "Alice, we needed you, we would have helped you..." he quickly shut up and turned around, facing away from her, trying to calm down.

"What happened?" she whispered.

"We lost Jill, and Angie has stopped talking along the way," Naruto said, leaning against the gas truck near them. "We were attacked and separated after some raiders tried to steal our supplies and after a few weeks, L.J and I only found Angela. She was never the same again." he lowered his head. "I just wished that..." he chocked the last part ou,t and Alice could see the pain in his eyes as he closed them, trying to control himself.

He felt the soft skin of her hand on his cheek as she caressed his beard gently trying to make him open his eyes and look at her.

She succeeded.

"I didn't want to leave, especially after our talk." her hand traveled to the back of his neck and brought his head down so that their foreheads could meet. "But thinking about what Umbrella would do if they got to you too..." she took a shuddering breath. "I couldn't let that happen." she gazed at his slowly opening blue eyes.

"Oh, Alice," he whispered as he hugged her close. Her heart was hammering against her chest, and she could hear his racing too with her enchanted hearing. "I--we would face the entire world for you..."

"I know," she muttered, massaging the back of his neck as he hugged her harder.

Suddenly, she remembered something.

"Damn." breaking the hug, she looked up at the sky, and Naruto's eyebrow raised, then Alice glanced down at the watch attached to her belt. "What time is it?"

"Chase," Naruto called cowboy hat wearing man as he passed by them. "What time is it?" Chase looked at his wrist.

"Well, Naruto it's 12:14. Why you got somewhere you gotta be?" the blond chuckled at the cowboy and looked at Alice.

"Sorry." She smiled. "Guess I'm just being--"

"Paranoid?" asked Naruto, chuckling. "Look, I've to take care of a few things." Alice nodded understanding he had other responsibilities. "I'll see you later ok?"

"Ok." she smiled and watched as he proudly walked, with his back straight, towards the group of survivors.

Walking around, she studied the convoy, people would look at her, and when she returned the gaze, they would turn around quickly. Alice understood their apprehension.

After her walk, she leaned on a pillar of the gas station and waited for Naruto. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, thinking about her next move.

She could continue her path, running and dogging Umbrella's attempts of catching her, but she knew that if she left Naruto and the others would come after her, besides, she owned them for her to stay.

Alice was pulled out of her thoughts when she heard footsteps coming in her direction, and opened her eyes, looking up, it was that woman, Claire and, as she got closer, she took off her gold-rimmed sunglasses, fidgeting with them in her hands before hanging them on her dirty tank top.

"Got a minute?" the redhead asked hesitantly.

"Yeah."

"Everybody is grateful for your help..." Claire started.

"But how long am I gonna stay?" Alice finished knowingly.

"Look, it's not about that." Alice's eyebrow shot up at that. "I just need to know you're a threat to this convoy." Claire's voice was somewhat forceful, and Alice noticed that she cared a lot about those people.

"I'm not," she responded, confused with her reaction to her powers.

"Good." Claire nodded, satisfied. "If you're wondering, its the respect that everyone in this convoy has on Naruto that it's making us agree with you staying with us." Alice nodded. "By the way, do you know anything about first aid?" nod. "I need you to check Naruto's wound, seeing that Betty's...well, it needs checking." and Alice watched Claire walking back to the group of people that were reorganizing the supplies.

Turning her head, she caught a glimpse of Naruto's back, he was talking with that man, Chase, and laughing, she smiled fondly as she watched him, happy to see him again.

Meanwhile, Alice had begun to get to know some people of the convoy and was surprised to find that they started to accept her.

After spending a couple of hours talking with them, she realized the true depth of their respect towards Naruto, apparently, he was their guardian, a friend, an essential member of their weird family. He was the go-to guy if Claire wasn't around to give them instructions.

At some point, she started helping them carrying heavy boxes and organizing supplies. She knew that the acceptance wouldn't come from a few hours of helping and socializing with the group of humans, but it helped.

Meantime, Naruto had spent the last three hours helping and fixing as much as he could.

After helping with the supplies, he called Mikey and Chase to free the ambulance and fix the metal bars of the school bus. Some of the survivors had already cleaned the inside, getting rid of the blood and feathers.

The blue-eyed mercenary sighed as he looked at L.J's hunched over form over Betty's grave, crying. They had been seeing each other for over a year, and Naruto was pretty sure that L.J had been in love with her at some point. Earlier he had seen Alice approaching the sadden dark-skinned man, offering her condolences and trying to comfort him.

Shaking his head, he looked back at Chase.

The cowboy was telling him that he needed to go and check the bus' engine and see if everything was fine from the crash, they had been having problems with it for some time now and Claire, who had been a mechanic before the outbreak, had done the best she could to fix it with the available tools.

Getting near the bus, he lifted the hood and peered inside. Everything seemed to be in order, nothing was loose, sparking or smoking so, with his limited knowledge of mechanics, Naruto concluded that nothing was going horribly wrong.

"Everything alright in there?"

CLANG!

"Motherfucker!" Naruto winced and held the growing lump on the back of his head that his advanced healing was already taking care off. The hood of the bus didn't go very high, so you had to bend a little to see inside, so being startled, he slammed the back of his head on it.

Alice winced as well in sympathy, she honestly didn't mean to scare him like that but laughed seeing him rubbing the growing lump very fast as if it would take away the pain.

"Sorry, sorry, let me see." still chuckling she cradled his head on her hands and made him lean down so she could see the injury. Seeing the red mark on his scalp, she kissed it tenderly. "There, now it'll be alright," Naruto grumbled as he straightened, and looked her over. She had her coat on again and had her bag over her shoulder.

The sight made alarm bells go off in his head.

"Going somewhere?" she could hear the alarmed tone in his voice and saw it in his eyes. Smiling she brought her hand up and punched his shoulder lightly.

"I'm just going to put my things in your truck." that surprised him, making his left eyebrow raise. "Mikey said if I'm gonna stay, I should settle for your truck instead of the bus." he nodded, the bus was already cramped enough.

"You're very welcome to stay with me." he smiled nervously and looked at her backpack. "For a moment I thought--"

"That I wouldn't stay." she guessed, and Naruto nodded. "I'm not going away any time soon Naruto."

She saw him visibly relax, and a smile grew on his face as he turned and properly closed the hood of the bus.

"By the way, I heard you got hurt and needed someone to look at your injury." Naruto sighed.

"Shit..."


End file.
